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How To Use This Site


This blog was updated on a daily basis for about two years, with those daily entries ceasing on December 31, 2013. The blog is still active, however, and we hope that people stopping in, who find something lacking, will add to the daily entries.

The blog still receives new posts as well, but now it receives them on items of Wyoming history. That has always been a feature of the blog, but Wyoming's history is rich and there are many items that are not fully covered here, if covered at all. Over time, we hope to remedy that.

You can obtain an entire month's listings by hitting on the appropriate month below, or an individual day by hitting on that calendar date.
Use 2013 for the search date, as that's the day regular dates were established and fixed.

Alternatively, the months are listed immediately below, with the individual days appearing backwards (oldest first).

We hope you enjoy this site.
Showing posts with label Mexican War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexican War. Show all posts

Thursday, May 23, 2013

May 23

1846   President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.

1865  Sioux and Cheyenne raiders return to Deer Creek Station and try again.

1868  Kit Carson died at Ft. Lyon, Colorado, at age 59.

1898   Troop C  of the Second U. S. Volunteer Cavalry, "Torrey's Rough Riders", recruited in the vicinity of Laramie, mustered in at Fort D. A. Russell.  The officers and men were as follows:  George R. Shanton, captain; Morgan F. Knadler, first lieutenant; William J. Abrams, second lieutenant; Charles W. Gilmore, first sergeant; Otto Zoller, quartermaster sergeant; George S. Kline, Brutus H. Clay, Joseph T. Orr, Charles K. Harrington and Chris J. Silberg, sergeants; William A. Grosvenor, William J. Sine, Herman C. Peterson, Winter P. Hepburn, Thomas C. Hunt, Albert R. King, Mortimer McKnight and Fred C. Hecht, corporals; Herbert Wallis and Hiram F. Davis, trumpeters; Charles M. Johnson and Jonas H. Farr, farriers; Charles Trew, saddler; Willis D. Jacus, wagoner.  Troopers–Joseph Aaron, Kirt Acor, Daniel L. Aldridge, James Barber, George W. Barker, Alfred A. Benjamin, Patrick Boyle, Henry A. Brown, Harvey B. Burk, George H. Burke, Arthur W. Chesebro, DeWitt Clary, Samuel Coen, William Craver, Tony Cuerden, Frank Curren, Alfred Daykin, Charles S. Dunlap, Sidney H. Dyer, Jack Fee, Jr., Hugh A. Ferguson, Paul Flackstein, Frank Flaherty, George R. Gardner, Harry Griffin, Rasmus Hansen, Hans T. Hansen, Tim Hamlin, Frederick C. Jenkins, Samuel Johnson, William E. Johnston, Meredith Jones, Fred Kassahn, William E. King, Hans T. Kulewatz, Cornelius Lenihan, Frank A. May, Charles W. Mans, Henry S. Mapes, John C. Matheson, Christian W. Miller, Hugh M. McPhee, Andrew C. Neilsen, James U. Nisbet, Adolph A. Olsen, Perry Parish, Albert F. Price, Frank P. Price, Charles B. Peirce, John J. Schenck. Lewis Sherwood, George Schaefer, Henry Steltz, William C. Tipler, Hugh Vass, William B. Wallace. James E. Walsh, Harry H. Whitman, William C. Whittenberg.

Troop E was also mustered in, and had been recruited in the counties of Sheridan, Crook and Weston.  It's officers and men were as follows:  : Henry H. Austin, captain; Norvel H. Baker, first lieutenant; Lewis S. Magruder, second lieutenant; T. J. Gatchell, first sergeant; Daniel L. Van Meter, quartermaster sergeant; George L. Wade, Harve Springer, Patrick J. Conway, Philo Carmon, George Skinner and Robert Long, sergeants; Arthur C. Schneider, Guy Campbell, Charles S. Brown, Ellioft W. Brown, Joseph Sellers, Edward Anderson, William Hymer and Bird Moore, corporals: Truman L. Fox and Anton Jenson, trumpeters, Herman Gerdel and William McWilliams, farriers; Milo Hamilton, saddler; Frank Valentine, wagoner,  Troopers–Richard Alleyne. Guy R. Barton, Ross Bennett, Charles C. Blake, William E. Bollen, Joseph L. Bomar, Marnus J. Cannon, Peter Cannon, Edward Clark, John Cole, Russell Conger, Harry L. Cooper, Harry CosgrifT, Albert M. Crafts, James W. Croghan, John Davey, William Davis, John Davaney, Frank Dooley, Benjamin F. Draper, Arthur Evans, Benjamin Freeman, Carl Gleason, John Gurney, Clarence E. Hefiner, William J. House, Charles Hulett, Charles Kolberg, Arthur Krusee, Harry M. Krusee, Wesley Leaming, John Loafman, Finley Lowry, Roland J. Lytle, Eugene McCarthy, Henry McConaghy, James H. Magoon, William Moncriefife, Samuel B. Pohlman, Chris Rasmussen, Burl Robinett, Alonzo Robinett, Walter Robinson, James F. Rose, Charles Ross, Luther M. Roush, Warren Sawyer, Nelson Simpson, Edward J. Smith, Guy L. Smith, Archie Sollars, David Spitz, Jacob E. StaufTer, Daniel Sweeney, Robert C. Wilkerson, Paul Willitts, Charles F. Wilson, Frank E. Wood.

1903 Theodore Roosevelt, in an address to the Arctic Brotherhood in Seattle, stated: "I think we have cause to feel abundantly justified in our belief that the qualities of the old-time pioneers who first penetrated the woody wilderness between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi, who then steered their way across a vast seas of grass from the Mississippi to the Rockies, who penetrated the passes of the great barren mountains until they came to this, the greatest of all the oceans, still survive in their grandsons and successors."

1912  John Hoyt, Territorial Governor from 1878 to 1882, died in Washington D. C.

1940  The Elk Mountain School closed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942   Site for Heart Mountain, Wyoming, Internment camp selected.

1963   Wapiti Ranger Station was designated a National Historic Landmark.Attribution:  On This Day.

1966  Oregon Trail Ruts at Guernsey designated a National Historic Landmark.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

May 19

1848   Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo acknowledging the acquisition of Texas and New Mexico by the United States, which included a small portion of Wyoming, via Texas.

1846  resident Polk approved an act that provided for a line of military posts along the Oregon Trail.  In some ways, this has to be regarded as a major development in the history of the United States and the U.S. Army, as the expansion of the Army on to the Western Frontier dominated much of its character for the next century, even continuing to have an influence into its nature well after the Frontier had closed.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1866  Colonel Carrington left Fort Kearny for Fort Laramie where he received instructions from General Pope to name two new outpost along Bozeman Road Fort Philip Kearny and Fort C.F. Smith.  The widely spaced forts were to form more northerly bastions to guard the Bozeman Trail, the southernmost post, Ft. Reno, having already been established during the Civil War by Patrick Connor.  Carrington was one of a group of officers who remained in the Army following the Civil War when Congress established the policy of making room for some wartime officers who had not come from pre war military service or West Point.  Alfred Terry was another, with both men having been lawyers prior to the Civil War.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1869  Territorial government was formally in effect.  Territorial Supreme Court took the oath of office.

1871  Robert H. Milroy takes office as U.S. Marshall.

1887  Sheridan Post established.

1902  The first Carnegie Library in the United States, the Laramie County Library, opened.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1915  Dr. Amos Barber, Wyoming's second governor after statehood, whose governorship was marred by the Johnson County War and his general ineffective reaction to it, died.  Barber had a successful career as an Army surgeon before entering private practice, and he followed up on that with service again during the Spanish American War, but his having participated through acts of omission in the large cattleman's invasion of central Wyoming is principally what he is remembered for.

1919  May 19, 1919. Laramie to get a refinery, Daniels comes home, Ataturk in Samsun


Big news in Wyoming, and most particularly in Laramie, was that the Midwest Oil Company, which was very active in Natrona County, had determined to build a refinery in Laramie.

People in Laramie today may be surprised to know that this was even considered, let alone that it was actually built, which it was later that year, although the remnants of the refinery remain there.  Indeed, oddly enough, discussion has been going on for several years on how to clean the remnants of the refinery up, a project that has been ongoing, and on May 5 of this present year a legal notice regarding the final work on it was published.

The refinery operated from 1919 to 1932, making it a plant that closed during the height of the Great Depression.  The same location was later operated for a few years as a Yttrium plant, although most of the refining equipment had been removed in the 1930s.  Clean up of the site is nearly complete.

1938  Niobrara County Wyoming becomes the first county in the United States to have all of its mail for a day delivered via airmail.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941  Fire destroyed three Union Pacific shop buildings in Cheyenne.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1987  The U.S. Post Office in Basin Wyoming, the U.S. Post Office in Buffalo the U.S. Post Office in Evanston, the U.S. Post Office and Federal Courthouse in Lander, the U.S. Post Office in Yellowstone National Park, the U.S. Post Office in Newcastle, the U.S. Post Office in Kemmerer, the U.S. Post Office in Thermopolis, the U.S. Post Office in Torrington, added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1996  A  4.2 magnitude earthquake, which your correspondent experienced, occurred 22 miles from Casper.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

May 16

1846         Battle of Campeche at which the Texas Navy defeats the Mexican fleet.

1885  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show appeared in Chicago.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1905  The Acme Consolidated Gold & Mining Company incorporated in Wyoming.

1918  The Sedition Act of 1918 passed by the U.S. Congress making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense of 20 years or fined $20,000.  Attribution:  Western History Center.


New York Herald's pro Sedition Act cartoon.  Included in the treasonous pack was the IWW and Sein Fein.

It provided, amongst other things:
SECTION 3. Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both....

Not one of the U.S. prouder moments in World War One.  Of note, Theodore Roosevelt had editorialized against it.  It would in fact be abused, as during wartime it's easy to imagine a traitor behind every negative statement.

Harry Yount, sometimes erroneously referred to as Wyoming's first game warden (he wasn't), passed away in Wheatland at age 85.

Yount was from Missouri in 1839 and joined the Union Army during the Civil War, being taken prisoner by the Confederates from whom he escaped.  His escaped from captivity was barefoot and lead to a condition of rheumatism, which left him eligible for benefits for the same when they were first passed in 1890.  After the war, he headed West and engaged in a classic series of Frontier occupations, including bull whacking and buffalo hunting.

In the 1870s he was engaged by the Smithsonian in order to collect taxidermy specimens, and he became a regular member of the Hayden expeditions throughout the decade. During this period, he also took up prospecting.  He was well known enough to be the subject of a newspaper profile in 1877.  Around this time he became a commercial hunter in Wyoming, that still being legal until Wyoming took efforts to outlaw it early in the 20th Century.

In 1880, he was hired at the impressive salary of $1,000 per year to become Yellowstone National Park's first game warden, gamekeeper, or "park ranger" at a time at which the law was enforced in Yellowstone by the U.S. Army.  He occupied the high paying job for fourteen months.  Upon resigning he noted:

I do not think that any one man appointed by the honorable Secretary, and specifically designated as a gamekeeper, is what is needed or can prove effective for certain necessary purposes, but a small and reliable police force of men, employed when needed, during good behavior, and dischargeable for cause by the superintendent of the park, is what is really the most practicable way of seeing that the game is protected from wanton slaughter, the forests from careless use of fire, and the enforcement of all the other laws, rules, and regulations for the protection and improvement of the park.

His resignation seems to have come over a disagreement with the park superintendent, who wanted him to spend more time building roads.

After leaving the Park, he prospected, after a short and unsuccessful stint as a homesteader, in the Laramie Range for almost forty years, a remarkable stint at that occupation.  He took out a marble mining claim and spent his later years there, working also at prospecting right up to the day he died.  He collapsed near the Lutheran Church in Wheatland after walking into town, something he did daily.  He was 85 years old.

Younts Peak near Yellowstone is named after him.  The Park Service gives out the Harry Yount Award, established in 1994, annually to an outstanding ranger employee.


1946  USS Wyoming decommissioned. (This entry is doubly in error, check the comments below).


1985  The Downtown Rawlins Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1986  The Cokeville Elementary School crisis occurred  when David Young, and Doris Young took 167 hostages, 150 children and 17 adults, one being an unlucky UPS driver, at the school by bringing in a bomb which the couple attached a lanyard to themselves with.  David Young had been the town marshal, but had been fired for his odd, erratic behavior.  Doris Young had been a café worker in the town he had met while living there.  David Young claimed to be acting as a revolutionary, but part of his demands included $300 M dollars.  Doris Young accidentally detonated the bomb while her deluded husband was using a restroom. He returned and murdered her, and then killed himself, after wounding a teacher. All of the hostages survived, many leaving the classroom through the windows after the blast.  The incident is extremely unusual in that it was associated with a very large number of reports of the presence of angels seconds prior to the blast, who, according to those present, directed everyone to the far side of the room near the windows.

1991  The Lake Hotel on Lake Yellowstone added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Monday, May 13, 2013

May 13

1846     The United States officially declared that a state of war existed with Mexico.

1882  The Ft. Steele hospital burned.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1907  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a popular vote in 1892 concerning the location of the "Agricultural College of Wyoming" was advisory thereby keeping the University of Wyoming in Laramie, rather than moving it to Lander.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1912  The first political conventions in the state to nominate presidential electors took place in Cheyenne:  Attribution:  On This Day.

1918  Casper Daily Press for May 13, 1918. Germans used up their reserves and have the Czar?


The Germans really were using up their reserves and had passed the point of diminishing returns by this date in 1918, but they were still messing around in the East which made the story about the Czar and his family credible, if erroneous.  They would have been lucky if the Germans had taken them into custody.

At the same time, reports of Wyoming men getting killed in action were starting to appear on the front page.

1919  Movie star and recent veteran of the U.S. Army (artillery officer in WWI), Tim McCoy becomes the Adjutant General for the Wyoming National Guard.  In that capacity, he receives a brevet rank of Brigadier General at age 28.  He retained that position until 1921 when, I believe, it reverted to extraordinarily long serving Gen. Esmay, who had held it prior to WWI, with some interruption.

McCoy was also ranching in Wyoming during this time frame.  He ran for the US Senate in Wyoming in 1942 but lost, rejoining the Army as an officer the day after his defeat.  He served in the Army Air Corps in Europe during WWII and reportedly never returned to Wyoming after the war.

Evincing a surprising lack of sentiment about horses for a film star of this early era, McCoy is know to have remarked that he was not sentimental about horses, and that "If you want to know the truth - horses are dumb."

1943  A measles epidemic was raging in the state.  As everyone in my family has the stomach flu today, I can sympathize with epidemics.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

May 12

1865  Col Thomas Moonlight's expedition of the recently arrived 11th Kansas Cavalry reaches the Wind River in Wyoming, but fails to encounter the Cheyenne who were raiding west of Ft. Laramie that he was searching for.

1920  The Wyoming National Guard was reconstituted as the First Regiment, Wyoming Cavalry.

1922  A spring blizzard hit northeastern Wyoming.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2021   Wyoming Congressman Liz Cheney was removed from her number 3 spot in the Republican Congressional leadership over her refusal to accent to House Republican demands that she ignore or deny the role former President Donald Trump had in the January 2021 insurrection in Washington D.C.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

May 11

1846  Congress declared war on Mexico.

1929   A Laramie group advocated prohibition of women's figures on cigarette advertisements.  Cigarettes themselves did not become common for the most part until after World War One, which popularized them as they were distributed free to soldiers.  Prior to that, smokers tended to smoke cigars and pipes.  Smoking by women was uncommon, and considered improper.  In the 1920s, cigarette smoking by women expanded due to the social atmosphere of the time, although it was still considered sensational.

1950  The remains of Big Nose George Parrot were found by workmen working on the Rawlins National Bank.  Parrot's remains had been given to Dr. John Osborne, who was later elected Governor, for study.  Osborne stored the body in a salted whiskey barrel, and eventually buried the whiskey barrel in they yard behind his office.  The entire story of the treatment of Parrot's body following his execution is shocking my modern standards, including the means of finally laying them to rest until this date in 1950.

1916   The Punitive Expedition: The March 11, 1916 news
 

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

May 8

1541    Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

1846 General Zachary Taylor defeats a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto,  War had not yet been declared.

1860  Captain W. F. Raynolds' expedition left Deer Creek.  It's intention was to follow the Wind River to its headwaters and then cross a divide to the headwaters of the Yellowstone.Attribution:  On This Day.

1868  Union Pacific completed tracks to Ft. Saunders.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1877   The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.

1880  Soft drink bottling plant opens in Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1915  An earthquake occurred in northern Yellowstone National Park.

1938  Alcova Dam on the North Platte completed.

1945    The German surrender becomes official.  President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.  End of the Prague uprising.  Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre, ushering in what would ultimately become the French Algerian War.  In day two of rioting, 10,000 servicemen in Halifax Nova Scotia loot and vandalize downtown Halifax during VE-Day celebrations.

1946  Wyoming Game & Fish districts created.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1973    Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

2018  Following the Boys Scouts official departure from being an organization in anyway dedicated to the development of young men, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) severed association with the Boy Scouts.  The joint statement issued by the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church stated the following:
A Joint Statement from
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 and
 The Boy Scouts of America
May 8, 2018 
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America have been partners for more than 100 years. The Scouting program has benefited hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint boys and young men, and BSA has also been greatly benefited in the process. We jointly express our gratitude to the thousands of Scout leaders and volunteers who have selflessly served over the years in Church-sponsored Scouting units, including local BSA districts and councils. 
In this century of shared experience, the Church has grown from a U.S.-centered institution to a worldwide organization, with a majority of its membership living outside the United States. That trend is accelerating. The Church has increasingly felt the need to create and implement a uniform youth leadership and development program that serves its members globally. In so doing, it will be necessary for the Church to discontinue its role as a chartered partner with BSA. 
We have jointly determined that, effective on December 31, 2019, the Church will conclude its relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world. Until that date, to allow for an orderly transition, the intention of the Church is to remain a fully engaged partner in Scouting for boys and young men ages 8–13 and encourages all youth, families, and leaders to continue their active participation and financial support.  
While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law and expresses its profound desire for Scouting’s continuing and growing success in the years ahead.
While the severance of relations, effective on December 31, 2019, more than one year away at the time it was announced, was issued as a "joint statement", it was a slam to the the BSA in more ways than one.  For one thing the Mormons had been traditionally huge supporters of Scouting, continuing on a relationship with churches that in some ways reflected an earlier era when Scouting was heavily invested in churches.  The line "While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law" is a shot right under the water line at the Scouts at that, as by severing its relationship with the BSA it implicitly is indicating that it feels that the BSA itself is no longer really true to its original mission and that the LDS church must accordingly break its ties to it.

Where this will go is far from clear, but the public severance by the Mormons nearly closes out an era of close association of various religions with the BSA and reflects a wider societal split on what some very basic values in our society are going to be.  It's also a brave move for the LDS as its takes them very decidedly out into the currently prevailing winds, while at the same time it may be one more move that indicates that Scouting itself is basically coming to an end as it tries to accommodate social trends which run contrary to its original existential purpose.

This is posted here on this site, of course, as the Mormon church is widely represented in some areas of Wyoming as are Scout troops associated with it.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Sidebar: Hispanics in Wyoming

Recently, following St. Patrick's Day, I posted a sidebar on The Irish In Wyoming.  While it is, in no way, an equivalent holiday, we've recently passed Cinco De May, The Fifth of May, and, given as that's a Mexican holiday (although not much observed in Mexico), I'm doing something similar here with an entry on Hispanics in Wyoming.

Starting off here, I should at first note that I debated this title a bit and originally it was titled "Mexicans In Wyoming."  For some reason, the use of the term "Mexican" can be loaded, which certainly is not the intent here.  That is in part because many people have used the term incorrectly in referring to any Hispanic in the United States, a clearly erroneous use.  Additionally, the term is problematic because of the Mexican War.  Everyone was, in terms of citizenship, a Mexican who lived in the Mexican province of Texas, although culturally the fact that Texas had separated in 1836 had a lot to do with cultural identity.  Beyond that, however, after the Mexican War the US occupied new territories which had large Hispanic percentages of population, and who had been Mexican citizens, even if some of those regions had fairly unique Hispanic identities.  With all that being the case, I changed the title.  Be that as it may, the story of Hispanics in Wyoming cannot be separated from Mexico.

When we wrote about the Irish, we noted that we could not really determine when the first Irish American or Irishman set foot in what became Wyoming.  We can't really do that with Hispanics either, but we can say that Wyoming was once owned by Spain, even if the Spanish were not able to extend the control of their empire in North America as far as they claimed.  Indeed, southern Colorado,was really the northern most extent of Spain's empire inside the continent, in spite of occasional claims otherwise.  Trade goods did make it further north, and the Corps of Discovery reported encountering Spanish mules being used by the Shoshones when they came through northern Wyoming.  At any rate, not only the Spanish Mexican colony's province of Texas was part of what would become Wyoming, but Spain also once owned Louisiana, and the Napoleon's transfer of that territory to the United States required a formal transfer of the territory back to France, which all occurred on the same day, oddly enough.

The transfer of Louisiana to the United States did see a population transfer, of course as well, but not one that directly impacts our story here.  Louisiana included both a French and Spanish population, who became subject to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase, but the Spanish population did not have a presence in Wyoming at the time.  This remained the case in 1836 when Texas, which retained title to a southern portion of what would become Wyoming, rebelled against Mexico. And it remained the case at the time at which the United States and Mexico concluded the peace treaty of Guadalupe Hildago.

The Mexican War, however, would be directly responsible for the first Hispanic settlers in Wyoming, as it brought the U.S. Army into Wyoming.  Only shortly after the war ended, the US sent the Regiment of Mounted Rifles to occupy what had been a private fort in Wyoming, so as to secure a part of the early Oregon Trail. That fort was Ft. Laramie, which would go on to have one of the most significant roles of any frontier fort in West.

Cement structures at Ft. Laramie, built by migrants from New Mexico.

When the Army occupied Ft. Laramie its structures were worn and the post was inadequate for its task. Therefore, the Army immediately took to rebuilding the post.

Frontier Army posts are often imagined to be made up of log buildings surrounded by a log stockade, and some were indeed just like that. Only a minority of them, however, had that construction.  Some of the posts, in contrast, were surprisingly substantial and well constructed.  Ft. Laramie was one of these.  In its early days, as a fur company trading post, it was not much more than a simple stockade, but as soon as the Army began to occupy it, that changed.  Part of that change was brought about by the importation of Mexican labor from New Mexico.  And that had to do with Cement.

Cement, as a construction material, dates back to the Romans.  In spite of that, however, it was little used in much of the Western world following the fall of Rome until the late 19th Century, which in part is due to the manufacturing process becoming somewhat obscure, and in part because the types of cement that were commonly known following Rome's decline were slow setting and somewhat hard to make.  Therefore, in the mid 19th Century, cement was uncommon in the United States.  However, for reasons unknown to me, cement remained a construction material elsewhere in the world, including the Spanish world.  While it's popular to imagine everything in New Mexico of this era being constructed of adobe bricks, in fact cement was a common construction material.  With the occupation of New Mexico by the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, this became known to the Army, which was impressed with cement. So, when the Army went to reconstruct Ft. Laramie, it determined to use cement for the new buildings, which in turn required the importation of labor who knew how to make it and build with it. Those laborers were New Mexican Hispanics.

These laborers were, therefore, brought up by the Army in the late 1840s and they gave Wyoming its first Hispanic residents.  The men brought up, who brought up their families, were not men who were employed year around, in New Mexico, as construction laborers, as the area was agrarian and such skills were only part of a set of skills used by agrarian artisans.  Once they completed, their task, therefore, they turned to another part of their skill set, farming.  Through this process, not only did Wyoming receive its first Hispanic immigrants, farming came to the state for the first time.

The Hispanic farms created by the New Mexican ("Mexican") artisans were located some distance away from the fort, on a series of hills visible from the Oregon Trail. The area came be known as "Mexican Hills." The Mexican farmers who located in there used the presence of the trial for market purposes, selling fresh vegetables to travelers on the trail.

I wish I could relate more of this aspect of the story, but unfortunately, I cannot.  The area remains farm ground today, but as far as I know none of the original Mexican presence remains.  When it ceased, I cannot say either, but my suspicion is that it did during the mid 19th Century.  With the fort becoming an increasingly important regional center it may also have become an increasingly difficult place to live.  The farmers did not live on the post grounds, but some distance from it, and therefore would have been at the mercy of Ft. Laramie bands of Indians, who were generally peaceful while in the region, but which would have been somewhat concerning nonetheless. At any rate, I"m not aware of the farms surviving into the 20th Century, and have no idea how long they actually lasted.  Therefore, I can only sadly report the New Mexican immigrants as the first appearance of Hispanic culture in the state, but whether it had any long lasting cultural impact, I cannot.  It certainly had a long-lasting material impact, however, as the concrete structures built at the fort all still remain, albeit as ruins. That's a lot more than a person can say about the stick frame buildings that the Army generally constructed at its more permanent facilities in the same era.


The next significant presence of Hispanics in the state came about due to the explosion of the cattle industry following the Civil War.  In terms of time, that's not really that long after the establishment of the Mexican Hills farms mentioned above, and a person has to wonder if any still remained.  Be that as it may, it's commonly noted that 1/3d of all 19th Century cowboys were "black or Mexican."  I've always found that description rather odd, as African Americans and Hispanics of the same era had distinctly different cultural histories.  Additionally, as they are lumped together by this description, there's no easy way to know what percentage of that "1/3d" were Hispanic.  But what is certain is that Texas ranching came about due to ranching in Mexican Texas and dated back to Spanish Texas, so the Mexican influence on the industry was enormous.  It's no wonder that Hispanic Texans and New Mexicans remained employed in it up into the 1860s and 1870s, and beyond.  Indeed, to this very day.

The state therefore saw new Hispanic men who came up with the herds from Texas.  Undoubtedly some stayed when the long trail drives gave way to regional ranching.  Oddly, however, its hard to find examples of individual Hispanic ranchers.  There probably are some, but I'm unaware of them.  In terms of ranching methods and technology, of course, their impact was huge, and has been enduring throughout the West.  Indeed, Wyoming's cowboys were the direct descendants in terms of methods of the Vacquero who had employed the same skill set in Texas, as opposed to the Caballero who employes a somewhat different skill set in California.  This remains true today.

Mexican ranching influence extended not only to cattle ranching, but sheep ranching as well. The Spanish had introduce sheep to Mexico and they were a presence in the Southwest before the Mexican War.  Sheep started arriving on the Wyoming ranges in the 1890s, accompanied by a great deal of controversy and violence.  They were also accompanied by "Mexican herders."

Not all sheepherders were of Mexican ancestry by any means.  Still, in the  very early sheep industry on the Northern Plains Mexican influence was strong.  Mexican herders were accustomed to highly nomadic herdsmanship which in part leaned on skills acquired from Indians.  While, today, we are used to the sheepwagen, the "Home On The Range," Mexican herders used teepees made of canvas.  This practice is not well known to those outside of the sheep industry, but it was common enough with Mexican herders that the practice lived on well into the 20th Century.

 
 Painted brick sign on the old Kistler Tent & Awning building, in Casper Wyoming.  Kistler Tent & Awning is an ongoing business in Casper, and no doubt can, and still does, make any of the times advertised here.  Note the "Herders Teepees" item, just below "Sheepwagon Covers."



At about the same time that he first herds of cattle began to head north, the Union Pacific came into the state.  Hispanic laborers were not part of that rail expansion, but by the early 20th Century they were very much  a major segment of the Union Pacific workforce, and they remain so to this day.  All of the towns on the Union Pacific came to have significant Hispanic populations.

This saw the creation of distinctly Hispanic neighborhoods in all of those towns, which reflects on the human nature in good and bad ways.  That Hispanic communities would spring up was probably natural enough.  But, by the same token, that an element of prejudice was present in that would be probable. At any rate, all of the towns on the Union Pacific had Hispanic neighborhoods, and many still do. Cheyenne, for example, has South Cheyenne, a neighborhood that lies to the south of the Union Pacific, and which features a very Spanish influenced church, architecturally, as well as a Mexican Restaurant reputed to be one of the town's best.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church in south Cheyenne.

Laramie Wyoming, generally thought of as the home of the University of Wyoming, likewise has a Hispanic influenced neighborhood, reflecting the large Hispanic community that worked and worked in the very large railyard in Laramie.  Not surprisingly, perhaps, Laramie has an excellent Mexican restaurant in West Laramie, the Hispanic part of town, and another just off of the Union Pacific rail line.  Hispanics are a significant portion of the Catholic community in the town as well.

Like Laramie and Cheyenne, Rawlins Wyoming has a Hispanic neighborhood associated with the Union Pacific.  And as with Laramie and Cheyenne, Carbon County has seen the culture reflected in culinary offerings.  Su Casa, in Sinclair Wyoming, and Rose's Lariat, In Rawlins Wyoming, are contenders for the best Mexican restaurants in the state, and even though they are only seven miles apart, each has fiercely loyal clienteles.  All the way across the state, however, the farming and railroad town of Lingle has Lira's, which others argue in the best.  Guernsey Wyoming, on the Burlington Northern line, had Otero's Kitchen, which others maintained was the best.  I've eaten at everyone mentioned here, and they're all great.

To mention all of these restaurants in this context may seem shallow, but it's a reflection of a long lasting and vibrant culture.  Mexican restaurants owned by Hispanic families only preserve for years and years, rather than becoming something like Taco Bell, if there's a vibrant Hispanic community which has become part of the local community.  So the culinary reflection indicates something deeper than just a regional taste for Mexican food.  Rather, it is indicative of the fact that all of these railroad towns had, and still have, vibrant Hispanic communities.

This has reflected itself over the years, additionally, through the Catholic churches in these towns.  In no area of Wyoming is any one parish made up of a majority Hispanic population, but in those towns where there is a significant Hispanic population, it has reflected itself in some way.  Those towns with significant Hispanic populations have seen it reflected, for example, in the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe events.  When I lived in Laramie in the 1980s, for example, St. Lawrence O'Toole's parish crowned a young couple as king and queen of the event, and had a major celebration in church which was complete with a brass and guitar band.  St. Anthony's church in Casper has sometimes seen similar, if less extensive, events.

Of course, with a long presence in the state, it's not surprising that the Hispanic community has members in every walk of life and profession.  Prominent educators, lawyers and physicians have come from within the community and contributed to the state.

Unlike the story of the Irish in Wyoming, this story really cannot be completely written at this time, as Wyoming's towns have  and industries have seen new Hispanic immigrants in recent years.  Receiving an influx of workers during boom times, to see an outward migration thereafter, is part of Wyoming's economic history, so how the current new residents will impact the state is really not known.  However, heavy industry, including the oil and gas industry, has employed a lot of migrant workers in recent years.  As has been the case for generations, service industries have as well, so that towns like Jackson, which at one time had fairly small Hispanic communities, now have very prominent ones.  So this story is incomplete.  But like the story of the Irish, it is one that goes back to the State's very beginnings.

Friday, April 26, 2013

April 26

1846  Mexican forces defeat U.S. Dragoons at Rancho Carricitos, Texas.

1860  Gold discovered at what would become Leadville. . . an event which would cause my great grandfather to move from Ohio to Leadville.

1861  Amos Walker Barber born in Doylestown Pennsylvania.  He was Wyoming's second governor, and was the controversial governor during the Johnson County War who seems to have been informed that the invasion was to occur.  He served a single term.

1872  William F. Cody preforms the act that wins him the Congressional Medal of Honor.  The Citation is as follows:
CODY, WILLIAM F.  Rank: Civilian Scout. Born: Scott County, Iowa. Organization: 3rd Cavalry U.S. Army. Action date: 26 April 1872. Place: Platte River, Nebraska. Citation: Gallantry in action.
This medal was withdrawn, with 900 others, as unwarranted in 1916, but restored in June 1989.

1886  The University of Wyoming's Trustees meet for the first time.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Casper Daily Press for April 26, 1916
 

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for April 26, 1917: 30,000 Acres "Offered" on the Reservation
 
I've pretty much halted the daily newspaper updates from a century ago, while still posting some directly to the 100 Years Ago Today Subreddit.  This one is one I ran across that I'm posting here, as some thing linger and linger and linger.


The story, of course, to which I refer is the one noting that 30,000 acres were being opened up on the Reservation.

Things like this happened all the time, and into the mid 20th Century, but the problems this has created have been endless.  It's shocking to read about now, but at the time, wasn't thought of as a problem by most.
1921  First weather news broadcast.  Aired by WEW in St. Louis.

1927  Albany County's Sheriff shot by a car thief.  Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.  

1938  The Como Bluff Dinosaurium was run in Ripley's Believe It Or Not.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1944. Wyoming's legislature votes to allow deployed soldiers vote absentee in Wyoming's elections.

2018  University of Wyoming football player Josh Allen became the highest NFL draft pick from UW when he was seventh in the draft, going to the Buffalo Bills.  Allen's high draft ranking was widely followed in Wyoming and was the topic, apparently, of a big celebration at Laramie's Buckhorn Bar.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

April 18

1847     American troops under General Winfield Scott defeated Mexican forces under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the Battle of Cerro Gordo during the Mexican War. Scott's engineers, including future Civil War generals R.E. Lee, G.B. McClellan, J.E. Johnston, and U.S. Grant, were instrumental in locating a flanking mountain trail, which Scott used to bring up his main force.

1875  Rain In The Face, with the aid of a sympathetic soldier, escaped from the stockade at Ft. Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory.

1887   Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth appeared in "Hamlet," in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  The National Land & Livestock Co., incorporated with capital of $250,000, a massive amount at that time, given the value of the 1890 dollar.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1898  The U. S. House of Representatives passed the following resolution:
 1. That the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.
2. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.
3. That the president of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several states to such an extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.
4. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and control of the island to its people.
1916   Casper Daily Press for April 18, 1916
 
The following evening, the paper was doubting the news of Villa's demise the day prior, and in a whimsical fashion.

A civil war in China, amazingly enough, managed to make the front page, in spite of the nearer strife.


1919  Apostol post office established.  Apostol would become Osage in 1920.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Library.

1920  Pilot Butte oil field abandoned.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1924  Harry Jackson, an artist heavily associated with Wyoming, born in Chicago.

1934     The U.S. Army stops officially issuing sabers to the cavalry.  Sabers would continue on, unofficially, in at least some National Guard units.  Unit returns of the Wyoming National Guard's 115th Cavalry Regiment demonstrated that it was still issuing them as late as 1940.

Elsewhere:

 1923     The first baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium in New York City.  The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1.  Babe Ruth hit a home run in the inaugural game.

1942     B-25s from the USS Hornet raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

March 28

1845   Mexico dropped diplomatic relations with US.

1846   US troops move onto the left bank of the Rio Grande River.

1865   The District of the Plains was established.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1870  Camp Augur reorganized and renamed Camp Brown.

1906  An ore mill at Encampment burned. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1908  Fifty-nine people killed in a mine explosion at Hanna.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1916   The Punitive Expedition: The Casper Daily Press, March 28, 1916
 

Note in this one the fruit and vegetable advertisement.  Quite a difference in regards to how available these things are today.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for March 28, 1917: Calls to arms.
 

A general call to arms was going on, as Wyoming National Guardsmen were returning to service.

1918   Wyoming State Tribune, March 28, 1918. Muleless Days?
 

The big news was on the war, of course, but a frightening item about a shortage of mules appeared on the front cover as well.

At that time, that was no minor matter.  Mules and horses remained the prime movers of short hauling and agriculture in the United States in 1918.  And the US was also a major supplier of both to the Allies.

Unlike automobiles, a demand for equines couldn't simply be supplied overnight.  A natural product had to develop naturally.  By this point in 1918 horses and mules that were born in the first year of the war were just getting to the point where they were trainable.  Horses and mules of older age, and usable for anything, had been pressed into the demand long ago.

1920  March 28, 1920. Tornadic outbreaks, Typhus, Bulgarian elections, and movies.


A disaster of another type, contaminated water, was plaguing Casper.  Casper would have outbreaks of waterborne diseases for years, including typhus.


1970  The location of Ft. Reno placed on the National Register of Historic Sites.

1975   A 6.2 earthquake occurred about 93 miles from Evanston, WY.

1982  The Sheridan County Historical Society transferred title in the Trail End Historical Center to the State of Wyoming.

2008 Gray wolves removed from the Endangered Species List.

2020  In an emergency session, the Town of Jackson, Wyoming, issued a shelter in place order for the town, implementing recommendations from Teton County's health official brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic.  The country recommendations, issued on the 24th, further recommended that people from outside the county or with second homes leave the county for their primary residences.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Sidebar: The Irish in Wyoming

Just recently we posted our "green" edition of this blog with our St. Patrick's Day entry.  Given that, this is a good time to look at the Irish in Wyoming.

The Irish are a significant demographic, in terms of ancestry, in the United States in general, so a reader might be justifiably forgiven for thinking that the story of the Irish in Wyoming wouldn't be particularly unique, or perhaps even that such an entry must be contrived.  This would be far from the case, however, as the Irish were not only an identifiable element in European American settlement of the state, but a distinct one with a unique history.

 Bantry Bay, Ireland; where many of Wyoming's Irish came from.  This photo was taken between 1890 and 1900.

It may not be definitely possible to tell when the first Irishman or Irish American entered the state, but a pretty good guess would be that the very first son of Erin entered what would become the state in the service of the U.S. Army.  More particularly, it seems like that this would have been with the Corps of Discovery, that body of men commissioned by the Army to cross the continent from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.  Sgt. Patrick Gass was definitely of Irish descent, although he himself came from Pennsylvania.  He's unique as he left the first literary work on the expedition.  George Shannon was of Irish Protestant descent and therefore, perhaps, arguably "Scots Irish," although his name would suggest otherwise.   The Corps, however, crossed the continent prior to the great migration caused by the Famine, and therefore its almost surprising that these men of Irish descent were on the expedition, as the Irish were a small demographic at the time.  Also revealing, at this time many, probably most, whose ancestors had come over from Ireland were of "Scots Irish" descent, those being descendant from the Scots population that the English had settled in Ireland to form a religious and ethnic barrier between themselves and the native inhabitants of the conquered country.

The fact that the first Irish Americans to enter the region, however, came in the form of soldiers was telling, as by the 1840s this was becoming coming common.  Up until that time the U. S. Army had been tiny and had very little presence on the Frontier at all.  The Mexican War, however, changed all of that and, at the same time, brought a flood of Irishmen into the enlisted ranks.  This was caused by the contemporaneous jump in immigration from Ireland at the time, which was coincident with a huge spike in German immigration as well.  There was a political element to both immigration waves, with the Irish being discontent with the United Kingdom, which disadvantaged them at law with statutes aimed against Catholics and with some German immigrants coming during the troubled times on the continent that would lead to European wide revolutions in the 1840s.  The Irish in particular, however, were also driven by extreme poverty and hunger as their disadvantaged state was further compounded by extreme crop failures in this period.  Taking leave to the United States or British Canada, many simply chose to get out of Ireland.  Upon arriving in the United States, still oppressed with poverty, and often just downright oppressed, many took a traditional employment route which was to enlist in military service.  Like their ethnic cousins the Scots, the Irish were not in actuality a particularly martial people, but standing armies provided an economic refuge for them.  In the United Kingdom this resulted in Irish and Scots regiments of the British Army.  In the United States, starting during the Mexican War, it resulted in a huge percentage of the enlisted ranks being made up of Irish volunteers.

 World War One vintage recruiting poster for "The Fighting 69th", a New York National Guard regiment legendary for being recruited, even as late as World War One, principally from Irish immigrants and and Irish Americans. At least one Canadian unit of the same period, the Irish Canadian Rangers, was specifically aimed at Montreal Irish.

The Irish, and the Germans, were at first resented in the service, even if their enlistments were accepted, and they were very much looked down upon by Southern born officers, who made up a disproportionate percentage of the Army's office class.  This had, in part, sparked a high desertion rate during the Mexican War and had even contributed to the formation of a unit in the Mexican Army made up of Irish and German desertions, the San Patricio's.  The Army, however, in what may be the first instance of a long U. S. Army tradition of adapting to social change ahead of the general population, made peace with the Irish enlisted men by war's end and they soon became an enduring feature of the Army.  By the time of the Civil War things had changed so much that there were now Irish American and Irish born officers in the Regular Army, such as Irish American Philip Sheridan, after whom Sheridan Wyoming and Sheridan County Wyoming are named. 

 "Little Phil" Sheridan, far left.  Sheridan was born to Irish immigrant parents, but his ties with Ireland were so strong that it is sometimes erroneously claimed he was born in Ireland.  The Irish American Cavalryman was honored in Wyoming with a town and county being named after him.  Oddly enough, in later years a 20th Century Catholic priest who was a relative of his would also serve in Wyoming.

This change started to take place almost as soon as the Mexican War was over, and was well established by the time the Civil War broke out.  Already by that time many rank and file members of the Army were Irish born and there were Irish American officers of note.  The controversial Patrick Connor provides one such example, with Connor having a major campaigning role in Wyoming during the Civil War period.  After the war ended, the post Civil War U. S. Army was full of Irish and German volunteers.  The list of the dead, for example, at Little Big Horn reads like an Irish town roster, so heavy was the concentration of the Irish born in its ranks.  Indeed, the Irish in the 7th Cavalry, and other U.S. Army units, had a permanent impact on American military music during the period, contributing such martial tunes as Garryowen and The Girl I Left Behind Me to the American military music book.

The controversial Patrick E. Connor, who campaigned in Wyoming, not always widely, but very aggressively, during the Civil War.

Irish born and raised 7th Cavalry officer, and former Swiss Guard, Myles Keogh.

After Irish soldiers came the Irish railroad workers, who arrived with the construction crews of the Union Pacific.  The role of Irishmen in the construction of the railway is well known. Along with other ethnic minorities, the Irish were strongly represented in the crews that made their way through the state in the late 1860s.  As towns came up along the rail line, some of these men would inevitably leave the employment of the railroad and take up residence in other occupations.  Cheyenne, Laramie, Medicine Bow, Rawlins, Green River, Rock Springs, and Evanston all share this Union Pacific source of origin.

Former railroad station in Medicine Bow, with the Virginian Hotel to the far left.

After the railways started to come in, cattle did as well. Rail lines were, in fact, a critical element of the conversion of the United States from a pork consuming to a beef consuming country, as rail was needed in order to ship cattle to packing houses in the Mid West.  Rail expanded into Wyoming at exactly that point in time at which the greatly expanded herds in Texas started to be driving out of that state.  Prior to that time, while beef was certainly consumed, it tended to be a local product and pig production provided the primary meat source in the United States, along with poultry, foul and wild game.  Texas' cattle had been raised primarily for their hides not their beef.  The Civil War, however, had seen an uncontrolled herd expansion which, with the war's end, became a nearly free resource, if a way of sending the cattle to central markets could be found.  The expansion of the rail lines soon provided that, and the long trail drive era was born..  And with the cattle, came some Irish cowhands, and ultimately Irish ranchers.

Ireland itself was nearly completely dominated by agriculture in the 19th Century, and indeed it was for most of the 20th Century.  Agriculture was the largest sector of the Irish economy as late as the 1990s.  In the 19th Century, as with every century before that, most Irish were rural and agricultural.  Looked at that way, employment in non agricultural activities really meant that most of the Irishmen taking them up were leaving their natural born employments for something else.

Moreover, while we today tend to think of Ireland exclusively in terms of potatoes, due to the horror of the famine, in reality the Irish have a very long association with horses and cattle.  In pre Christian Ireland, stealing cattle was virtually a national sport, and the great Irish epic work, the Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge)  concerns that activity.  In later years, during English occupation, potatoes became an Irish staple because Irish farmers tended to grow them for themselves, by necessity, while still often working production crops on English owned lands.  Even as late as the famine Ireland exported wheat to the United Kingdom.  Cattle raising never stopped, and indeed by World War One Ireland was a significant beef exporter to the Great Britain.  The same is also true of sheep, which were raised all over Ireland for their wool and meat, and giving rise to the idea that all Irish are clad in tweed at all time, a concept that also applies to the sheep raising Scots.

 The dramatic protagonist of the Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Horses, for their part, were and remain an Irish national obsession.  Unlike the English and Scots, whose routine farmers had little interest in riding stock, the Irish developed an early love of horse riding and everything associated with it. The Steeple Chase was and is an Irish national sport, followed intensively even now, and in earlier eras widely engaged in.  A person has to wonder, therefore, if the heavy Irish representation in cavalry formations in the U.S. Army of the 19th Century reflected that fact.  It certainly did in the English Army, which had at least one Irish cavalry regiment up until Irish independence.


All of this made the Irish a people that was particularly inclined to go into animal husbandry.  Other agricultural Europeans, except perhaps the Scots, had less exposure to this sort of agriculture than the Irish did.  It's no wonder therefore, that the Irish were well represented amongst 19th Century cowboys and, ultimately, amongst small scale 19th Century and 20th Century ranchers.  Indeed, in more than one occasion, Irish immigrant ranchers were able to convert humble beginnings into enormous agricultural enterprises.  One such example was that of Patrick J. Sullivan, an Irish immigrant who started ranching sheep near Rawlins. As his ranch grew, he moved to Casper and became a wealthy man from sheep ranching, which then translated into politics as he became Mayor of Casper, and ultimately a U.S. Senator upon the death of Francis Warren.  Sullivan had come a long way from his humble beginnings in Bantry Bay.  His Irish roots were reflected in the balcony of the large house he built in Casper, which featured a shamrock on the banister of the widow's walk, although that feature is now gone.



No story about the Irish in the United States would be complete without noting the role that Irish born clerics played, as the Irish were always closely identified with the Catholic Church, a fact which ultimately was pivitol in Ireland's independence following World War One.  In Wyoming, the presence of the Irish guaranteed the presence of the Catholic Church, and in many areas, but not all, Irish born parishioners and Irish American parishioners were the largest segment of any one congregation (although, again, this is not true everywhere in Wyoming).  Because the church was essentially a missionary church in Wyoming, the Church relied for decades on Irish priests.  The first Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne was the Irish born Maurice Burke, who served from 1887 until 1893, and who had to defend his Diocese from hostility from nativist elements, which were strong at the time.  He was succeeded by Thomas Lenihan, who was also Irish born.  Irish born priests continued to be very common well into the 20th Century and it only came to a slow close after World War Two, although at least one Irish born retired priest in residence remains at St. Patrick's in Casper.

In a state where they were fairly strongly represented, it's perhaps not surprising that the Irish were able to have some success in politics in the state even though there remained a strong anti Catholic prejudice in much of the United States prior to World War One.  Indeed, at least according to one source, some early Irish businessmen and politicians in the State made efforts not to make their Catholicism generally well known and were muted about their faith, being aware of the prejudice that existed against ti.  None the less, as the example of Patrick Sullivan provides, there were successful Irish born and Irish American politicians in the state fairly early.  Sullivan may provide the best early example, but others are provided by mid 20th Century politicians Joseph O'Mahoney and Frank Barrett.

An identifiable Irish presence in the state remained through most of the 20th Century, but by the last decade of the 20th Century it began to fade, as Irish immigrants aged and began to pass on.  Some still remain, but the era of Irish immigration to Wyoming is over.  Like most of the United States, a residual Irish influence lingers on in subtle ways, and in the memories of Irish descendants, many of whom, perhaps most of whom, can also claim ancestry from other lands by now.  But the impact of the Irish on the state, while not as open and apparent as it once was, continues on, and always will, given their significant role in the the 19th and 20th Century history of the state.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

March 10

Today, for 2013, is the dread advent of Daylight Savings Time, in which the weary are deprived of an hour of sleep.



1804  A formal ceremony was held in St.Louis involving the transfer of Louisiana to Spain, back to France and then to the United States.  The inclusion of Spain was due to a legal oddity regarding France's acquisition of Louisiana.

1848.  The Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo ends the Mexican War.

1862   First U.S. paper money issued in denominations of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000.  Five dollars was not a trivial amount at the time, and the higher amounts contemplated commercial and banking transactions.

1866  The US Army's General Pope organized the military Mountain District and ordered the establishment of Fort Philip Kearny and Fort C.F. Smith to protect the Bozeman Trail.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1875  Union Pacific shareholders resolved to erect Ames Monument between Laramie and Cheyenne in honor of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames, Jr., two Union Pacific financiers.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  Members of the Albany County Council stated that the light air of the county caused insanity.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   The Raid on Columbus New Mexico: The local March 10 news
 

 The Raid On Columbus: The Wyoming Tribune, March 10, 1916
 


Cheyenne's newspaper.  Probably an evening edition.

1917   The Laramie Boomerang for March 10, 1917: Laramie's troops retained in Cheyenne
 

The Laramie Boomerang was reporting that Laramie's Guardsmen had been unexpectedly detained in Cheyenne. 
There could be several reasons that this decision came about. For one thing, Laramie's unit was a medical detachment, not too surprisingly as the location of the University of Wyoming in Laramie gave the unit an educated population to draw from.  So perhaps it was kept at Ft. Russell until the other troops had cleared in case medical needs popped up.
Additionally, these troops were only traveling 50 miles, as oppose to the long distances being traveled by other Wyoming troops.  There may not have been available transportation space, in which case retaining the troops going back to Laramie would have made sense.
And finally, as many of these men were students, they didn't have much to go back to.  It was too late in the semester for the many students to return to school, and a lot of them probably were leaving right from Laramie on to their actual homes, or were competing for what little work there was in Laramie.
At any rate, while the rest of the Guardsmen were leaving Cheyenne, they stayed an extra couple of days.


1919 In  Schenk v United States, the US Supreme Court holds that the Espionage Act, restricting speech, does not violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

1919 March 10, 1919. The arrival of the USS Nebraska, Anticipating the arrival of Company I in Casper, Tennis in New York, Romantic comedies in the US.
The battleship USS Boston, carrying soldiers on their way home from France, arrives in Boston.

People familiar with the efforts to bring the far flung U.S. military home after World War Two are familiar with Operation Magic Carpet. That operation employed sufficiently large U.S. Navy surface ships as troops transports, something they really weren't designed to be, to bring home soldiers and Marines.

Red Cross workers, also in Boston, awaiting the arrival of the USS Nebraska.

Almost forgotten is the fact that the same thing was done after World War One, an example of which we have here in the form of troops that were brought home on the USS Nebraska, a pre dreadnought Navy battleship.  It would have been a quite uncomfortable ride.

Wyoming National Guardsmen from Casper were coming home as well, by train.


The Casper men were set to arrive back in Casper by train on Tuesday, March 11.  The 20 plus men had been part of Company I of the Wyoming National Guard and had been assigned to the 116th Ammunition Train when the Wyoming Guard was busted up and converted from infantry to artillery and transport.

These men had been in service since the Guard had been mustered in the spring of 1917.  They had not been part of the earlier group mustered for the Punitive Expedition, or at least Company I hadn't existed as part of that group, in that form, as Casper had been too small in 1916 to have its own Guard unit.  That tiny status had rapidly passed, however, due to the World War One oil boom which built Casper.  By the spring of 1917 the town was big enough to contribute its own Company and some of those men were back, having just been mustered out of service at Ft. D. A. Russell in Cheyenne.

In New York, where the Nebraska had arrived, things were returning to a peacetime normal.
Betty Baker, who had won round at the indoor national women's tennis championship on this day in 1919.  She was sixteen years old at the time.

Betty Baker, about whom I know nothing else, was a tennis standout in 1919 at age 16.  Does anyone know if that continued?  I don't, but if you do, put in a comment and let us know.

And Monday movie releases continued to be a thing.


The public seemed to be in the mood for romantic comedies.



1931   Bunnosuke Omoto, of Green River, granted a patent for an automobile tire design.

1942  A Worland woman baked over 300 lbs of cookies for soldiers.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1968   And on this day in 1968
 

The town of Acme Wyoming, depicted in the post card above in 1910, the year of its founding, sold to a group of Chicago investors.  It wouldn't reverse the town's fading fortunes.  It's a ghost town now.